


all i ever needed now is gone

by yakyuu_yarou



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: (everyone but Zolf dies), Angst, Character Death, Explosion, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Mild Gore, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26232754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yakyuu_yarou/pseuds/yakyuu_yarou
Summary: It's their lives or the world, and it's always been "mission first", with Zolf.He has to make a call, and he makes it.(Can be read as gen, but is intended to be shippy wrt Zolf/Wilde.)
Relationships: Azu & Zolf Smith, Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom & Zolf Smith, Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Zolf Smith, Zolf Smith/Oscar Wilde
Comments: 26
Kudos: 27





	all i ever needed now is gone

**Author's Note:**

> What can I say—I hadn't angsted in too long, and when my lovely friends started talking about Last Man Standing Zolf ... well.  
> "Give me five minutes," I said, went to collect the mail, and hurt everyone in my vicinity.  
> Please take care of yourselves, lovelies 💙
> 
> Title from _All I'll Ever Know_ by OWEL.

_One:_ Hamid falls first. He's always been the worst of them at taking hits, has always cared too little for his own life, and in the end that's what makes the call a little easier: he'll die a hero, like he's always dreamed. Zolf does not cry when he sees the attack hit, sees the small, slim shape crumple lifelessly onto the bloody floor, because he knows that not warning Hamid means giving everyone else the time they need.

 _Two:_ Azu screams as she goes down, dark eyes locked on Zolf's with something like hatred in her eyes—or unconditional love; it's difficult to tell, and the two might be the same anyway. Zolf could have healed her, he knows, could have kept her alive after she'd burned all of her own resources trying to protect their lives (Cel's and Wilde's and his), but those are resources _he_ will need. He had no choice, he thinks as he turns away and keeps pressing on.

 _Three:_ Cel. They die in a blast of yellow-green and blood-red and screams that could be joy or could be terror. Zolf knew they would, he knew the potion they were about to drink would spark off the magic in the air, left over from their fighting, but he also knew that the resulting explosion would take out about half of the monstrous contraption’s— _parts_ , and they need that. So Zolf said nothing, just watched and watched and _watched_ , and now they're dead, and he and Wilde stand a chance.

 _Four:_ Wilde sinks to his knees with a scream that rends reality from itself, and Zolf has no time no space no room to _think_ , so he surges forward, past the bent-over form with the tentacle-spear stuck in its chest and forces everything, _everything_ he has into the opening Wilde's last dying breath has left. It works, it works the monster _dies_ , and Zolf sinks to the ground a few feet from where the last of the people he loves has dropped.

 _Now_ , there are tears. "For the mission," he whispers as he does not turn around, but the words are hollow and the hole in his chest is vast. He will be a hero, no doubt; he’s saved the world. Saved the whole _fucking_ world, and all it took was sacrificing everything in it that ever mattered.

—fin—

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you ... er. Enjoyed. 💙


End file.
